To Make Merit

Encounters

Just one block away from the Villa Guesthouse, where I’m staying, is Wat Sangwet Witsayaram. It was built in the late Ayutthaya period [1238 – 1767] under the royal patronage of King Rama I – so it has been in play for a long time. America didn’t even exist when this was built. I always make my way over there during the day to look at its architectural beauty. To try to further understand the methods to monastic  madness – why people give up social and monetary existence.

 

 

At 8:30AM you can hear the clanging of temple bells throughout the neighborhood. This tells all the monks present there to show up for the Pali chants. Chanting is done every morning and evening at every temple monastery in Thailand. They trigger the meditations that most monks and village members adhere to.

When I heard the clanging the other day I decided to go over there. They are always  happy to have you join in, to listen in to their chants. To meditate with them.

Opened Doors

The temple doors were opened. I took off my shoes at the base of stairs and went up through the doors. I made sure to step over the door thresh-hold as once I actually stepped on one. Seeing the shock and surprise of some people there let me know that this was a blatant mistake. One I try never to repeat.

As in most temples there is a staged setup where the monks sit to the right or left side of the temple, depending. It puts them up about a foot or two. They were already there waiting. I went in and stayed at the back. Everyone, when they enter a temple, kneels down and does the Triple Gem bow.

I take refuge to the Buddha

I take refuge to the Dharma

I take refuge to the Sangha

A Set Up

I sat on the floor to wait for things to start. While waiting, this young couple came in from the entrance behind the large Buddha statue. The man noticed me and immediately went to the wall behind me and set up a chair. Then he invited me to sit down in it. I told him [in Thai] that I preferred sitting, like others, on the floor. He gave me an OK wai and went and sat down next to his wife.

 

 

There was a set up in the middle of the temple floor in front of the Buddha. It had a few small tables and some gold metal trays. After doing the Triple Gem they sat with their legs at a right angle to the floor. Their hands in a full wai.

Everyone waited a bit longer and a few other monks entered from the back doors, including the elderly head abbot and his helper. He helped the abbot sit at the front of the monks and then noticed me. Immediately he came over. With his hand, palm up and pointing, showed me the chair that had been placed by the other man. He said,

‘Please.’

Not wanting to question the notions of the abbot’s companion helper, I rose from the floor and sat down.

There were about ten monks present and they began their Pali chanting.

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In the Theravada tradition chanting comes from the Pali Canon. It is the most complete extant Buddhist canon. The Theravada tradition claims that it was recited orally from the 5th century BCE to the first century BCE, when it was written down. Written texts were originally written on palm leaves and stung together to be used like a book. These can still be seen in old Thai and Burmese temple libraries. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81li_Canon

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The chanting continued for about thirty minutes and then everyone sat in meditative silence.

Then something I never expected to happen happened.

Methods of Merit

While the monks turned and sat facing the center of the room, the couple went to the base of the podium on their knees. Still kneeling they Triple Gem bowed to the monk sitting at the edge. Then they went over and collected all of the things they had in their possession at the small table and trays. They took them over to the base of the stage and set them on the floor there. This was all done on their knees.

Continuing on their knees they then came over to me. Me, sitting on my chair. They knew I could speak Thai well enough. Would I do them the favor of passing on their items to the monk, which they had brought to make merit?

It would have been a great disservice to deny such a request.

Giving Things Away

A minute later I went on my knees before the monk. Looking at the couple, then the monk, still not sure of protocol, my hands in a wai while kneeling before a monk –  they all watched me dissemble then burst into laughter!

The man kneeling next to me took one of the small gold trays that had envelopes [with cash?] on it, lifted it to the monk. The monk pretended to accept it in a theatric way. Then the man set it down next to me and said,

‘Now you please do it.’

Lifting a Golden Tray

I lifted the golden tray with my hands up to the monk on the platform. He reached out and took it gently with his hands, then set it down on the floor next to him. The man, hand palm up, pointed to the next item; a basket containing rows of different cooking spices. I lifted it and handed it up to the monk. He smiled and took it with his hands. There were two other packaged items that I handed over. I gave a wai each time something was given.

When everything had been accepted the couple and I finished with the Triple Gem.

The monk looked down at me and smiled. The couple turned and thanked me and I thanked all of them for including me in the ceremony.

Personal Foibles

I asked the couple if they had an email address as I had taken some photos I wanted to send them. She said yes and wrote down the name. There was an unusual word beginning the address so I asked if it had any meaning. She looked down at the floor and her husband looked sadly at her. Then she looked into my eyes with abstract fortitude and answered directly,

‘It was the name of our son. He died recently.’

Language does have limits but their eyes told the story of love and loss. With my want to ease the situation, I then blundered it further by asking if they had any other kids. They told me no.

I don’t know if my Thai was at all eloquent.

I told them that I never had children. But while watching the lives of my friends with children, that things are always as unpleasant as pleasant. Hearing my vain complaints of having children, living or non-living in the world, at least they smiled. My foreign blundering had eased paradise lost.

With a wai to my furrowed brain and brow I told them Thank You – then walked through the ancient temple doors into the tropical summer heat.

News Travels

When I arrived back at the Villa Guesthouse a few minutes later Lek, the owner, was in the entrance room. She looked up when I walked in and said,

‘So, you were at the temple down the street?’

When I asked her how she knew she told me that Nui, the woman of the couple, was a long time friend of hers. She then showed me a picture that the couple had taken and sent her.

It was a picture of me handing their gifts to the monk.

It turns out that if you give your possessions to a stranger and the stranger gives them to the monks, ones making of merit increases.

Similarly, the beauty of life increases not only for the giver, but for the stranger too. It helps negate suffering for both parties. Making merit increases the chance of escaping from life itself – the goal of the Buddhist path.

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(Buddhism)